Atlanta, GA - Hartsfield International Airport 2 pm
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It has officially become a very long day now and is about to get longer as we have a 4 hour layover here in Atlanta before a 3 hour flight to Managua.
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Had dinner with AdriAnna and her boy-friend, Ty, last night at the Anchorage Airport. It was a good meal and really nice to meet AdriAnna's boyfriend for the first time.
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After dinner Melody and I did some planning. As I have the Global TSA Pre-Check card I took a couple of the hand carry's with me as I wouldn't have to take anything...

Funny River, AK 2:00 pm
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After a long day yesterday of dealing with paperwork and trying to get the final touches of the packing done, Melody and I dropped Sarah off at the Radio Station so that she could work and then went out to eat. It was a pleasant unrushed dinner. From dinner we went over to the Church for the Annual Church Valentines Day Dessert. Probably 100+ people were there. We sat with friends and not only enjoyed the "Live" Newlywed Show with 5 couples on stage, we each got to participate with each other on the same questions....

Tonight is 2.12.15. In two short days the first part of the Newberry Family; Melody, Charlie and myself will leave Kenai, Alaska for Managua, Nicaragua via Anchorage, Minneapolis St. Paul, Atlanta and finally Managua. Will and Katie will follow a couple of days later via a different route - through Mexico City.
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This will be a fun trip - Melody is excited that Tammi Sterns has a program all set up for her and Charlie and Katie will probably be with Dr. Melba and myself going to her various clinics. Katie is a PA in Training and this will...

Was a beautiful night last night, overlooking the bay with the mountain range in the background. About midnight, I noticed a bright yellow/orange light behind some tall spruce trees in the distance. After a bit I realized it was the moon…we haven’t seen the moon in weeks! It was visible to me about 20 minutes, I almost woke up Dick to see it, it was so beautiful. I even opened the door and he didn’t hear me! I guess it was too light to see the moon before midnight, and since we are in the mountains, it showed only a little before it was...

6/24-7/1
Kenai Peninsula
Glimpse of great week with family
My brother moved to Alaska in early 70s and found his and his wife’s piece of the woods overlooking a quiet river. They rent out a cabin he built next door that is very nice and has incorporated a lot of his creative artistic pieces into the construction. My sister and her family stayed in it.
Adventures: 1) We all took a float plane flight over the Cook Inlet to Big River Lake where we boarded small flat bottom boats for a ride to a small creek inlet. There were a number of salmon...

Today was a catch-up-and-prepare day. It was a beautiful Alaskan day. We ran errands, washed the camper (you should see how pretty it is), paid bills (ugh) and prepped for an early departure tomorrow am. Even Flutie got clean for the next part of the trip. The grooming place was less than a 5 minute walk from the campground so I thought I better seize the day.
We are heading for Trapper Creek Inn and RV Park, in Trapper Creek AK. It's about 265 miles away, so we must hustle. No internet on site so you may not hear from me tomorrow.
The next...

On our way again today from Palmer, past Anchorage again, and on down the road toward Seward. The road runs along the edge of Cook Inlet with mountains (also again) on both sides. Quite beautiful, but hard to take pics as we were traveling towards the sun. Beluga whales come thru the Inlet as part of their migratory cycle, but we did not see any. About 80 miles down the coast, we split off the Seward Highway to the Sterling Highway, over the Turnagain Pass and in a short time, onto the Kenai Peninsula. Though you could have fooled me. I...

The trip from Anchorage to Soldotna on the Kenai Peninsula was slowed by lots of photo stops. The highway travels along Turnagain Arm. It's a very shallow, 40-50 mile long bay which is always muddy. Cousin Ike says the tide goes out 50 miles! It then reveals mud which is very dangerous. People have been stuck in it and perished when the tide came in.
We had nice views but we kept thinking of it's dangers at every photo stop.
Then, there were the mountains. Alaska never runs out of those.
We saw some "combat fishing" on the Kenai River. A...

The quest to catch salmon has begun. We headed to the Kenai Peninsula where we stayed at the Diamond Farm bunkhouse. Great place to stay. It is between Kenai City and Soldotna. they have varying types of housing and a rv park.
Salmon fishing was poor for most people and a failure for me. Timing is everything. But the crowds were much smaller than last year.

Thursday July 18, 2013
Moving day again! We could easily stay here another week but if we want to see the rest of the state, we need to move on. Today we hooked up and headed north to Soldotna (around 70 miles or so). In so-doing, we passed along the same point that we did on the trip south – “North America’s Westernmost Highway Point”. There are roads west of here in Alaska but you must fly and/or travel by boat to reach them.
We are at the Centennial Soldotna City Campground overflow area. No amenities and $25/day. They do have...

After the cruise we spent a couple of days recovering in Wasilla and then headed to the Kenai Peninsula. The drive down once again was beautiful as we made our way around Turnagain Arm with the backdrop of the Kenai Mountains.
Our first stop was Soldotna for three nights. Soldotna is a town of around 5,000 but with Kenai City only 3 miles away, there are 12,000 residents in the area. However, there were probably 20,000 - 30,000 people in town while we were there – all fisherman. It was “dip-netting” season for Alaskan Residents. This is a...

Took a day trip to Nikiski, a city on the Northwest side of the peninsula. And I finally saw something that provided real jobs- several oil platforms out in Cook Inlet and a couple of refineries. Otherwise the Kenai Peninsula is all about fishing and fun.